As one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Hawkeye had long dwelled above others, and a natural air of arrogance lingered on his body.
However, when facing Jotaro, that air of arrogance on his body had completely vanished.
The reason was very simple, this was a world where strength reigned supreme.
The strength Jotaro displayed had already earned his respect.
In his heart, the current Jotaro stood at the same position as him, even far above him.
Hawkeye lowered his head, gazing at the wound on his chest that was constantly bleeding, feeling nothing but disbelief.
Just looking at the wound would make one's heart tremble.
However, after calming down, Hawkeye clearly understood that such a wound didn't have too much of an impact on his body.
He estimated that after resting for a week, he would recover completely.
This was by no means due to his luck, it was because the man in front of him had shown mercy.
What kind of speed and technique must one possess to leave such a wound on his body.
Hawkeye stood up, gave Jotaro a deep look, and said in a low voice, "I lost this battle. I owe you a life. Someday, I will repay it."
As he said this, there was no anger or resentment in Hawkeye's golden pupils, nor was there any shame or unwillingness, only a calm acceptance of his defeat.
He was someone who did things his own way, but his mind was very simple. In this regard, he was somewhat similar to Jotaro.
Hawkeye openly and righteously admitted his weakness.
Plus, his anger had already been vented.
Jotaro also had no intention of pursuing the matter any further.
"I have no interest in your life. The grievance between us is now settled!"
The two exchanged a glance, with no unnecessary words.
Hawkeye turned and left.
His steps were steady, and his departing figure remained as calm and aloof as always.
Though he had lost, he lost with conviction.
More importantly, the experience of defeat would become part of his swordsmanship training.
He suddenly stopped, turned back to gaze solemnly at the man who had subdued him, and solemnly asked, "Can you tell me your name? Someday, I, Dracule Mihawk, will challenge you again!"
"Kujo… Jotaro!" Jotaro's breathing was already a little unsteady, but his expression was still stern as he replied forcefully and clearly.
Hawkeye leapt up, landing atop the wreckage of the small boat, drifting alone on the endless sea.
He was already far away, but his voice still echoed in Jotaro's ears.
"Jotaro, I will wait for you on the Grand Line!"
As Hawkeye's figure disappeared at the line where sea and sky met, blood suddenly gushed from Jotaro's mouth, and his breathing became even more labored.
He knelt on one knee, using his hand to support his body with all his strength.
Blood had already stained his back red.
Although he had won, it was not an easy victory at all.
During the nine seconds of stopped time, he could have completely dodged all of Hawkeye's sword slashes.
But to make Hawkeye reveal a flaw, he deliberately let dozens of slashes land on himself, it was truly a life-for-life gamble.
With only two probing exchanges with the opponent, Jotaro had concluded that this was an extremely troublesome enemy, so he resorted to such a desperate move.
An enemy like Hawkeye had incredibly sharp observational skills, even if he couldn't see the Stand, he could roughly guess its form based on how it attacked.
Star Platinum is a humanoid Stand. Although it is a Stand, the way it moved was no different from a human.
Its vision was exceptional, even more precise than a microscope, but it still had the narrow visual range of a human.
The range of human peripheral vision is roughly around 220 degrees. If the head is fixed, the left and right visual range is about 120 degrees, with only the central ten degrees being a clearly visible area.
And as concentration increases, the clearly visible area gradually shrinks.
Star Platinum's terrifying eyes were not omnidirectional and without blind spots.
After witnessing Hawkeye's marvelous swordsmanship, Jotaro realized that once this weakness was exposed. While facing Hawkeye's powerful sword aura head-on, his back would become a fatal weakness.
This deadly flaw was hard to hide, and since that was the case, he might as well deliberately expose it himself.
A weakness can also be a source of opportunity.
Once Hawkeye noticed this flaw, all of his attention was focused on Jotaro's back, planning to deal a fatal blow.
It was exactly this moment of complete focus that caused him to expose a flaw in the front of his face for a brief instant.
Jotaro seized that exact moment to heavily wound Hawkeye.
Hawkeye never realized that he had exposed a flaw, nor would he ever realize it.
Because that wasn't truly a flaw at all.
In this world, there was no one who could, at that exact moment and without him realizing it, kill him.
No one, except Jotaro.
Only to this man did that brief 0.01 second become the downfall of a lifetime.
Even thinking back on it now, Hawkeye's heart was still filled with shock.
"The East Blue… really is a mysterious sea…"
"If that man knew someone like this was in the East Blue, he'd definitely come from thousands of miles away to recruit him."
The muscles at the corners of his eyes twitched slightly, holding an almost imperceptible smile.
After parting ways with Jotaro, he didn't immediately return to the Grand Line, but instead found a nearby small island and asked someone to build another small boat.
Shanks had told him many times about a boy in the East Blue named Luffy.
He had high hopes for this boy.
Therefore, Hawkeye was also very interested in Luffy.
The purpose of this trip to the East Blue, aside from killing off the Krieg Pirates to pass time, was also to inquire about Luffy's whereabouts and bring the news back to Shanks.
However, even after flipping through all the wanted posters of pirates in the East Blue, he couldn't find Luffy's name.
What he didn't know was that Luffy had only just recently set out to sea. At this moment, he had just left Orange Town, the place where Jotaro had passed through, and hadn't yet been wanted by the Marines.
Out of the thick stack of wanted posters, only Jotaro's poster made Hawkeye's eyes light up.
"Eighteen million Berries? That amount is way too low!"
'The one who defeated him, his bounty in the East Blue was only a mere eighteen million. That would mean… he had been defeated by a no-name pirate?'
'Utterly laughable!'
"Sir, your ship is finished!" the shipwright said shakily.
The sudden burst of aura from this man had chilled him to the bone.
Hawkeye gave him a faint glance, casually threw over a bag of gold, didn't even wait for change, then kicked the boat into the sea with one foot and left alone.
Jotaro had held back at the crucial moment, so his body was not in serious condition, but Hawkeye's sword aura had indeed landed solidly on his back.
After Hawkeye left, Jotaro was somewhat exhausted. Fatigue swept over his entire body, and his eyelids grew heavier and heavier.
The clear seawater had already been dyed red by thick blood.
The strong scent of blood spread rapidly through the water and soon attracted a group of predators.
However, as a Sea King roared, all of the predators dispersed in disappointment.
The Sea King swam near Jotaro, a human-like concern showing in its eyes.
She could understand that Jotaro's current situation was very bad.
Letting out a whimper from her throat, she supported Jotaro on her back and swam toward a populated area.
———
Outside Cocoyashi Village, near the cliff, Nojiko stood in front of Bell-mère's grave, a strange sound in her ears causing her to frown slightly.
"What kind of fish makes that sound?"
She stood on the cliff and looked into the distance. Following the direction of the sound, she saw an unconscious man lying on the shore.
Realizing someone might be in danger, she hurriedly ran to the coastline.
Her gaze moved from the grotesque wound on Jotaro's back, and she couldn't help but exclaim, "Such heavy injuries! This guy still has a breath left. Even fishmen probably wouldn't survive wounds this serious."
She crouched down and found that the injured man was breathing steadily, as if he were just sleeping.
Nojiko hesitated in her heart, looked around, then made a firm decision, to take the risk and bring the injured man back to her home.
"So heavy…"
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